Government Officials Keep Busy Traveling Agenda

Those are only a few of the destinations that city government officials visited at taxpayer expense during the past two years.

While many of the trips concerned pressing municipal business, others were to attend conventions and seminars.

The Delray Beach and West Palm Beach city commissions far outspent their counterparts in Boca Raton, Lake Worth and Boynton Beach, according to financial reports, sending more officials to more events.

Seven Delray Beach officials flew to Las Vegas for a National League of Cities Convention in December while only one Boca Raton representative showed up.

``There`s a lot to be learned. I am not going to apologize for trying to be a better city commissioner,`` said Mary McCarthy, Delray Beach city commissioner. ``(A conference) is a meeting of the minds where you share ideas. You not only experience another city and how they`ve done things but you learn from other officials what has worked for them.

``It`s not to go traipsing around on vacation. We`re taking (time) away from our families and free time and don`t get paid extra. They are a lot of fun, I won`t deny that.``

In the 1986-87 fiscal year, Delray Beach commissioners spent $13,976 on travel expenses and they have spent $7,909 this year, according to financial records. In West Palm Beach, more than $18,000 was spent last year and $6,697 has been spent to date for the 1988 fiscal year, according to financial reports.

By comparison, records show the Boca Raton City Council spent $1,631.92 in 1986-87 for all travel and training expenses and $1,941 this year.

Lake Worth city commissioners spent $1,365 in the 1986-87 fiscal year and $1,337 this year.

The Boynton Beach City Commission spent $2,317 last year and $3,367 to date this year in its travel and training budgets.

Officials in the Delray Beach Police Department also like to travel, according to financial records.

The travel and training budget for the police administration was $16,720 in 1986-87 and has already topped $11,000 this year.

While decisions concerning travel by elected officials are left to them, most cities either have a written or tacit travel policy or are in the midst of developing one for employees.

In Lake Worth, for example, expenditures for travel and training -- grouped together in municipal budgets -- have decreased dramatically over the past three years after a political furor that resulted in a policy minimizing travel by city officials.

From spending more than $106,000 on travel and training in 1985-86, the city dropped to slightly more than $63,000 for the budget year that ended on Sept. 30, and had spent a little more than $45,000 in the first five months, ending on Feb. 29, of the current budget year.

While travel and training costs have crept slowly upward in many of the municipalities, many of the trips are associated with mandated education and certification requirements.

Susan Miller, Boca Raton finance director, said the city has a written policy regarding travel that requires employees to get permission from department heads for travel and department heads must get the city manager`s approval.

Boca Raton City Council member Wanda Thayer said having a strict policy is a good idea, but she also endorsed making the city`s presence known at various functions at the state and national levels.

``Surely, you don`t want the taxpayers to think you`re running off with their money,`` said Thayer, the one city representative to attend last year`s National League of Cities convention in Las Vegas. ``Sometimes to be criticized (for attending such meetings) is not terribly appropriate. They can be very beneficial.``

West Palm Beach Commissioner Rick Reikenis, who stepped down as mayor two weeks ago, spent a good part of that commission`s hefty travel budget, mostly for travel to Florida League of Cities functions because Reikenis sits on the board of directors and the executive committee of the organization.

``Our policies are so fiscally conservative that we actually lose money personally when we go on trips,`` Reikenis said. He also said that he pays $400 to $600 of his expenses on an average trip.

``We are not taking a holiday on the taxpayers` purse strings.``

In Delray Beach, where the total spent on travel and training rose 44 percent last year, new City Manager Walter Barry is preparing a policy to govern travel.

The guidelines probably will allow city staffers to attend one national convention for a professional organization and one state gathering.